JPH0991464A - Video image generator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily verify and set a movable range (movable range of a start point and an end point of a moving path) of a moving path to make natural indication in the case of displaying a movement of a character as a video image. SOLUTION: A basic moving path of a character indicated on a 3-dimensional coordinate is converted into a 2-dimension coordinate by a coordinate control section 2 and the moving path of the character is displayed on a display section 3 according to a converted 2-dimensional coordinate while being shifted in the 2-dimensional direction, the 2-dimension coordinate of a movable range of a moving path of the character (movable range of a start point and an end point of a moving path) is decided based on the display result and the decided 2-dimension coordinate is converted into a 3-dimension coordinate by the coordinate conversion section 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image generation apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for setting and verifying the appearance range of a moving object in an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been a demand for a human-computer interaction method such as a man-machine interface and a human interface.
Technologies such as virtual reality (VR) have come to develop intuitive dialogue methods utilizing the five senses of human beings. Also, in the field of personal computers (PCs) and the like, there has appeared a high-speed video generation and animation function, such as a game, in which a video is changed by a human operation.

With the advancement of computer systems, artificial creatures composed of independent objects have been considered, and attempts have been made to realize a world where the artificial creatures live on computers. An image generation device for displaying an image of the operation of such an artificial creature,
Filed by the applicant of the present application (Japanese Patent Application No. 6-32884)
No. 7). This video generation device inputs, as an instruction, an action pattern that the artificial creature wants to perform and, in accordance with the command, selects a desired video from a number of video patterns to generate and display a continuous video, thereby displaying the behavior of the artificial creature. Is visualized to enable an experience like in the real world.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In this type of image generating apparatus, the image pattern is stored so that a realistic image with a wide variety can be provided even if the memory for storing the image pattern is small. It is necessary to devise to generate another video pattern from one video pattern. For example, with respect to the route of movement of an artificial creature (hereinafter, referred to as a character) as an object, a video image of a basic route defined in three-dimensional coordinates and stored in a memory is used, and various other types are used. There is a demand to generate a video pattern of the route and move the character on various routes.

When generating a video pattern of a route other than the basic route, it is necessary to prevent unnaturalness from being noticeable in the video display when the character moves. When a continuous image is displayed, the character suddenly appears at a position on the screen and begins to move, or the character stops moving at a position on the screen and then suddenly disappears. Is a fragmentary and unnatural display.

Therefore, it is necessary to always set the start point and the end point of one movement of the character outside the screen. If you set the start point and end point of the movement outside the screen and move the character according to the line connecting the set start point (start point) and end point (end point),
It is possible to provide the viewer with a continuous video of the natural movement behavior of the character, which does not cause the character to suddenly appear or disappear. Therefore, when setting another route based on the basic route, it is important to obtain a possible range of the start point or the end point of the route in which the route can be set. However, there is no appropriate means to verify how much the start point or end point can be shifted to provide a natural image.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and a possible range of a moving route (a possible range of a starting point or an ending point of the moving route) for displaying a natural movement of a character in a video display. ) Can be easily verified and set.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image generating apparatus for generating an image of another moving path of an object by using an image of a basic moving path of the object. And a display means for displaying the movement route of the object, and configured to determine a possible range that can be a start point or an end point of the movement route of the object based on a display result on the display means. And

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image generating apparatus,
An apparatus for generating an image of another moving path of the object by using an image of the basic moving path of the object shown in three-dimensional coordinates, wherein the basic moving path of the object shown in three-dimensional coordinates To a two-dimensional coordinate, and display means for displaying the moving path of the object according to the converted two-dimensional coordinates, based on the display result on the display means, the starting point of the moving path of the object or It is characterized in that it is configured so as to determine two-dimensional coordinates of a possible range that can be an end point.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image generating apparatus,
In Claim 2, it is provided with a means for converting the two-dimensional coordinates of the possible range that can be the start point or the end point of the determined movement path of the object into three-dimensional coordinates.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image generating apparatus,
An apparatus for generating an image of another moving path of the object by using an image of the basic moving path of the object, wherein a basic moving path of the object and a start point or an end of the moving path of the object. Means for storing a possible range of points, means for determining a starting point or an ending point of the movement route of the object based on the possible range, a basic movement route of the object, and the determined object Means for displaying an image of the movement of the symmetrical object based on the start point or the end point of the movement path of the object.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image generating apparatus,
An apparatus for generating an image of another moving path of the object by using an image of the basic moving path of the object shown in three-dimensional coordinates, wherein the basic moving path of the object shown in three-dimensional coordinates And a means for storing three-dimensional coordinates of a possible range that can be a starting point or an ending point of the moving path of the object, and a starting point or an ending point of the moving path of the object based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the possible range. Means for determining the three-dimensional coordinates of the point, the basic movement path of the object, and means for converting the three-dimensional coordinates of the start point or the end point of the determined movement path of the object into two-dimensional coordinates, An image of the movement of the symmetrical object is displayed based on the basic movement path of the object converted into two-dimensional coordinates and the start point or end point of the movement path of the object converted into two-dimensional coordinates. And means for And wherein the door.

In the image generating device of the present invention, the three-dimensional coordinates representing the basic moving path of the character are converted into two-dimensional coordinates, and the moving path is displayed while being shifted in the two-dimensional direction based on the converted two-dimensional coordinates. An operator who operates the device determines the two-dimensional coordinates of the possible range of the moving route (the possible range of the starting point or the ending point of the moving route) with no unnatural display by referring to the screen on which the moving route is displayed. . Then, three-dimensional coordinates are calculated according to the determined two-dimensional coordinates. By doing this, it is possible to verify whether or not the display is unnatural by actually looking at the displayed contents on the screen, so the possible range of the travel route (the start of the travel route) The three-dimensional coordinates of the possible range of the point or the end point) can be obtained very easily.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments thereof.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image generating apparatus of the present invention.
It has a control unit 1, a coordinate conversion unit 2, a display unit 3, and a memory 4. The input / control unit 1 receives data input from the outside and controls the operation of other units. The input / control unit 1 outputs three-dimensional coordinates (X, Y, Z) or two-dimensional coordinates (U, V) to the coordinate conversion unit 2. Coordinate conversion unit 2
Is an input three-dimensional coordinate (X, Y, Z) corresponding two-dimensional coordinate (U, V), or an input two-dimensional coordinate (U, V) corresponding three-dimensional coordinate (X, Y, Z). The input / control unit 1 also outputs the two-dimensional coordinates (U, V) of the moving path of the character to the display unit 3. The display unit 3 displays the moving path of the character according to the input two-dimensional coordinates (U, V). In addition, the memory 4 stores the three-dimensional coordinates of the possible range of the movement start point of the character determined by the method described later.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the operation of obtaining the possible range of the movement start point of the character in the three-dimensional coordinate system will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the procedure of this operation.

First, the three-dimensional coordinates (X, X) of a basic moving path (hereinafter referred to as basic path a) indicating the movement of the character C are shown.
Y, Z) is input to the input / control unit 1. The three-dimensional coordinates of the basic path a are output from the input / control unit 1 to the coordinate conversion unit 2, and the coordinate conversion unit 2 outputs the three-dimensional coordinates (X, Y, Z).
Is converted into two-dimensional coordinates (U, V) (step S1).
The converted two-dimensional coordinates (U, V) are output to the display unit 3 via the input / control unit 1, and the basic route a is displayed on the screen of the display unit 3 (step S2). FIG. 3 shows an example of the basic route a of the character C. The starting point (starting point) and the ending point (ending point) of the basic route a are outside the area of the two-dimensional screen having the UV coordinate system, and if the character C is moved along the basic route a, the image is not displayed. There is no naturalness.

The displayed basic route a is independently translated in the U direction and / or the V direction, and various movement routes are displayed on the screen. Then, the operator refers to the various movement routes displayed on the screen of the display unit 3 to determine the possible range of the starting point of the movement route in which the movement of the character C is normally displayed (step S3). Specifically, the minimum value (Umin, Vmin) and the maximum value (Umax, Vmax) of the possible range of the starting point in the two-dimensional coordinate system of UV are determined. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the limit value of the possible range of the determined starting point and the moving path in each case, which corresponds to the minimum value (Umin, Vmin) and the maximum value (Umax, Vmax) of the possible range of the starting point. The moving routes b and c are shown. Further, FIG. 4 also shows the basic route a for reference.

At this time, in order to prevent the starting point and the ending point of the moving path from being outside the area of the screen, and to prevent the moving path from being blocked by another object, how much deviation can be made in the lower left direction at the maximum, and , Set the possible range of the start point according to the maximum deviation in the upper right direction. It should be noted that the basic route a is simply moved in parallel within two-dimensional coordinates to set a possible moving route, so that if the position of the starting point of the moving route is specified, the position of its end point is automatically determined. Therefore, it is only necessary to set the possible range of the starting point.

Two-dimensional coordinates (U
min, Vmin), (Umax, Vmax) are output to the coordinate conversion unit 2, and three-dimensional coordinates (Xmin, Vmin) corresponding to these two-dimensional coordinates are output.
Ymin, Zmin) and (Xmax, Ymax, Zmax) (step S4). Converted three-dimensional coordinates (Xmin, Ymi
A rectangular parallelepiped having n, Zmin) and (Xmax, Ymax, Zmax) as diagonal vertices is obtained as a possible range of the starting point of the movement path where a natural image display is obtained, as shown in FIG. Three-dimensional coordinates (Xmin, Y) indicating the limit coordinate value of the possible range of the starting point
min, Zmin) and (Xmax, Ymax, Zmax) are stored in the memory 4 (step S5).

Next, the operation of displaying one movement of the character C in which a natural image display can be seen will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure at the time of this display. First, the three-dimensional coordinates (Xmin, Y stored in the memory 4
min, Zmin), (Xmax, Ymax, Zmax), using a random number from within the rectangular parallelepiped spatial region (see FIG. 5), 1
The coordinates (Xst, Yst, Zst) of one display start point are determined (step S11).

The coordinates of the determined display start point (Xst, Ys
Coordinates (Xdsp, Ydsp, Zdsp) of the display point according to t, Zst)
) Is output to the coordinate conversion unit 2 and converted into two-dimensional coordinates (Udsp, Vdsp) corresponding to the three-dimensional coordinates (step S).
12). Then, the converted two-dimensional coordinates (Udsp, Vdsp)
Based on the above, the moving image of the character C is displayed on the screen of the display unit 3 (step S13).

In the above example, the case where the possible range of the starting point of the moving route is obtained has been described.
It goes without saying that the possible range of the end point of the movement route may be obtained.

By the way, the character (moving object)
The reason why the position of is defined in three-dimensional coordinates is that when multiple characters appear, the display order from the front of these characters must be determined in consideration of the context of these multiple characters. Is. If there is only one moving character and that single character is displayed in the background image, the position of that character may be defined in two-dimensional coordinates. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the case where the character is shown in three-dimensional coordinates.

[0025]

As described above, in the image generating apparatus of the present invention, the appearance position of the moving character is displayed while being displaced on the two-dimensional screen to determine the possible range of the moving path in the two-dimensional coordinate system. Is returned to the three-dimensional coordinates to obtain the possible range of the movement path (the possible area of the rectangular parallelepiped display start point in the above example), so that a natural display can be performed when displaying the movement of the character as an image. It is possible to easily set the possible range of the movement route in the three-dimensional coordinate system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a video generation device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure for obtaining a possible range of a starting point of a moving route in the image generating apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a basic movement route in the image generation device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a limit of a moving route in the image generation device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a three-dimensional possible range of a start point of a movement route in the image generation device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure at the time of displaying a moving route in the image generating apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 input / control unit 2 coordinate conversion unit 3 display unit 4 memory C character a basic route b, c limit movement route

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for generating an image of another moving path of an object using an image of a basic moving path of the object, comprising display means for displaying the moving path of the object,
An image generating apparatus configured to determine a possible range that can be a start point or an end point of a movement route of the object based on a display result on the display means. 2. An apparatus for generating an image of another moving path of an object by using an image of a basic moving path of the object shown in three-dimensional coordinates, wherein the object shown in three-dimensional coordinates. Means for converting the basic movement path of 2D coordinates to
Display means for displaying the movement path of the object according to the converted two-dimensional coordinates, and two-dimensional coordinates of a possible range that can be a start point or an end point of the movement path of the object based on the display result on the display means. An image generation apparatus characterized by being configured to determine. 3. The image generation apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for converting two-dimensional coordinates of a possible range which can be a start point or an end point of the determined movement path of the object into three-dimensional coordinates. . 4. An apparatus for generating an image of another moving path of the object by using an image of the basic moving path of the object, the basic moving path of the object and the moving path of the object. Means for storing a possible range that can be a starting point or an ending point of the object, a means for determining a starting point or an ending point of the moving path of the object based on the possible range, and a basic moving path of the object. And a means for displaying an image of the movement of the symmetrical object based on the determined start point or end point of the movement path of the target object. 5. An apparatus for generating an image of another moving path of an object by using an image of a basic moving path of the object shown in three-dimensional coordinates, wherein the object shown in three-dimensional coordinates. And a means for storing three-dimensional coordinates of a possible range which can be a start point or an end point of the movement route of the object, and a movement route of the object based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the possible range. Means for determining the three-dimensional coordinates of the start point or the end point, the basic movement path of the object, and the three-dimensional coordinates of the start point or the end point of the determined movement path of the object into two-dimensional coordinates. Based on the conversion means, the basic movement path of the object converted into two-dimensional coordinates, and the start point or end point of the movement path of the object converted into two-dimensional coordinates, the symmetric object Hand displaying moving image An image generation apparatus comprising: a stage.